Mille Lacs Smallmouth

[JP Z]

I have a friend who's dad runs a launch, or is in charge "I forget" they have posted pictures of the boards with plenty of smallies loaded with eggs. So yes, they are keeping them.

[CaptainMusky]

I have a friend who's dad runs a launch, or is in charge "I forget" they have posted pictures of the boards with plenty of smallies loaded with eggs. So yes, they are keeping them.

That stinks!

[JP Z]

I know, but they kinda said they were going to target them. I know we all hoped it was just talk, well it wasn't. Let's hope they don't hurt the fishery too bad.

[thatoneguy]

Quote:

By the same logic it is not as automatic for the launches. And what would you rather bed fish in, a launch or a bass boat with power poles.

I don't have a problem with the launches trying for smallies (yet), who knows, they may practice C&R anyway. Looks like they are adapting.

Yeah a single person may do better from a bass boat; however 20 people obviously can make much more of a dent that one or two people in a bass boat. And no, it's not automatic, but the odds sure go up with a couple of dozen lines in the water.

And I, too, have seen photos of the piles of smallies caught by launches this year. No es bueno.

[KickNBass]

Well, we won't be able to blame the indians for this one if the smallie fishery goes south...

[NELS-BELLS]

Well, we won't be able to blame the indians for this one if the smallie fishery goes south...

Don't they own a good number of the resorts on Mille Lacs now? ...and I'm sure those resorts operate launches.

[Search Function]

Don't they own a good number of the resorts on Mille Lacs now? ...and I'm sure those resorts operate launches.

To my knowledge the only resort that the tribe owns is Eddy's and they aren't doing launches this year due to the fact that they are rebuilding the resort from the ground up.

[MuskieFever]

Any update on smallies? Might run up there tomorrow.

[bassin]

extremley shocking news in the pioneer press regarding the DNR prey study on mille lacs. smallmouth eat crawfish, not walleye. Amazing!!! And walleye eat walleye about 15-20% of the time.

[MuskieFever]

I read that and almost passed out from laughing. I was truly amazed they didn't blame muskies like people seem to think.

[Presco]

I am amazed that some walleye fisherman know smallmouth aren't the problem, but don't like them because, "they get in the way while we're fishing walleye". So, you've been dragging up wet paper towels for the last 3 hours and all of a sudden a little 3.5lb supersonic torpedo grabs your bait and drags you all over the boat trying to land it, you think that's a bad thing? I don't get it. This is a fight smallmouth can't win.

Maybe they can split the lake in half, ala Red Lake, and have one side protected and the other side not.

[KickNBass]

I read that and almost passed out from laughing. I was truly amazed they didn't blame muskies like people seem to think.

Muskies are obviously the problem, that's why they didn't include them in the test. Wonder how much Muskies Inc payed for that.

[Redlineracer12]

I am amazed that some walleye fisherman know smallmouth aren't the problem, but don't like them because, "they get in the way while we're fishing walleye". So, you've been dragging up wet paper towels for the last 3 hours and all of a sudden a little 3.5lb supersonic torpedo grabs your bait and drags you all over the boat trying to land it, you think that's a bad thing? I don't get it. This is a fight smallmouth can't win.

x2, especially the ones trolling stick baits... They aren't even costing them any bait!

[Presco]

Another maddening example.

The lake we fish in Canada every spring is a walleye factory but has seen an increase in smallmouth caught over the last few years. Ministry studies show that the smallmouth population has not increased over the last 10 years, but any walleye guy you talk to up there is convinced smallmouth are taking over the lake.

So, after noticing this guy cleaning a smallmouth half-heartedly (ie. starting to clean it and then just tossing the whole fish in the bucket), I asked him why. "Because they are taking over the lake, we need to kill as many as we can". I said, really, because the Ministry data shows they haven't increased in population. He says, "look, I work in Fisheries in Wisconsin and despite what that says, smallmouth take over every lake they are in". He then rattled off 5-10 Shield Lakes that no longer have walleye in them because of smallmouth. I asked how the DNR and Ministry would continue to protect them if that were the case. He said because they are naive and don't understand the problem. No sense in relaying the rest of this conversation because it was the equivalent of arguing with my wife, but this guy is supposedly a fisheries expert and he doesn't even believe the data and facts. I don't see this recent study effecting any change in the DNRs thinking on Mille Lacs.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Well, we won't be able to blame the indians for this one if the smallie fishery goes south...

Let's hope the smallmouth don't suffer the same fate as the buffalo. Just saying...

[KickNBass]

Initial numbers of harvest of smallies on Mille Lacs:

"They released 134,000 pounds of smallmouth bass and kept only 5,000 pounds since the fishing opener."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/outdoors/266344001.html

So, is this better or worse than you thought it would be and is this good or bad news for Mille Lacs Smallies?

[thatoneguy]

i'd be stunned i those numbers are accurate, but I hope they are.

[Nick Kuhn]

i'd be stunned i those numbers are accurate, but I hope they are.

They get skewed very easily. The 95% confidence interval for that is probably 1 lb to 30,000 lbs. Happens all the time on muskie creels. Either the estimated harvest for a lake is 0, or it is like 30 fish. In reality either the creel clerk had no muskies harvested, or he saw just 1 and the smallest number it extrapolates to is 30. Likely only a few smallies have been measured, but they extrapolate to an enormous number.

[mwal]

Creel checkers only report if someone says they they caught or kept any. In this day and age I would bet on disinformation at the landings. I hope the numbers are low so the resorts have a winter walleye season and the bass are still swimming.